Database Backup and Restore

This is procedure to backup Open Enventory database and restore it later on the same server or migrating to a different server

For traditional LAMP stack

This guide is for Linux environment with Apache2, PHP and MariaDB (MySQL) (LAMP) stack:

Save or Backup Database(s)

For chemicals and lab journal databases:

1. In Terminal window, type the following command:

mysqldump -u [user] -p [database] > [Path]/[backup_filename].sql

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info:

• [user]: in most cases, use root (recommended)

• [database]: use the name of the database that you want to backup

• [Path] and [backup_filename] : any path and filename

If you want to compress the SQL backup files, you can use this command instead:

mysqldump -u [user] -p [database] | xz > [Path]/[backup_filename].sql.xz

• | xz was added for compressing SQL file to .xz file

• Make sure that you have .xz at the end of the file as above.

.xz files seem to have the best compression vs bzip2 and gzip for SQL files. You can see more info here and here:

For example usage of xz, see this link.

2. Type in password for the user above and then Enter (nothing will show when you are typing the password)

For users info:

1. In Terminal window, type the following command:

mysqldump -u [user] -p mysql > [Path]/[user_backup_filename].sql

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info:

• [user]: in most cases, use root (recommended)

• [Path] and [backup_filename] : any path and filename

While this approach might work well in case of same MySQL or MariaDB version, if you migrate or upgrade SQL, you want to follow the instruction here for better users backup:

2. Type in password for the user above and then Enter (nothing will show when you are typing the password)

Restore

Step 1: transfer both files (database and users, if you want to keep the same users and passwords) to the new system/server

Step 2: create the database from OE web login if you have not done so.

Step 3 (optional):

If you have compressed the SQL file as instruction above, you will need to decompress the file first.

This is for compressed file with .xz extension:

unxz -vk [/path/backup-database].sql.xz

• -v : verbose, give more info

• k : to keep the compressed file, this will generated the uncompressed file .sql

Step 4: use ssh and terminal, login as terminal root and run:

mysql -u root -p [database-name] < [/path/backup-database].sql    #for database restore
mysql -u root -p mysql < [/path/backup-user].sql    #for users restore, this might not work for mariabd 10.4+ 

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info:

• [database-name]: use the name of the database that you want to backup

• [/path/backup-database] and [/path/backup-user]: any path and filename

Step 5: go to OE on web browser and login with mysql root account.

If the mysql root user in the old database has password different than the current mysql root user, after step 3 above, the root user password will be changed to the old password.If you don't know the old mysql root password, follow this tutorial to reset mysql root password.

Step 6: go to Settings and then click on Recreate users. That should reactivate all users and their passwords.

Again, if you have migrate from MariaDB < 10.4 to MariaDB 10.4+, it might not work and we have to change the command in step 3 above. The reason is because the mysql.user table is deprecated in MariaDB 10.4. You can read more about it here.

For XAMPP users

While the general steps are similar, the exact paths to the executable command are different for Mac OS and Windows using XAMPP, please follow the corresponding guides below:

Mac OS + XAMPP

Save or Backup Database

For chemicals and lab journal databases:

1. In Terminal window, type the following command:

/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin/mysqldump -u [user] -p [database] > [Path]/[backup_filename].sql

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info:

• [user]: in most cases, use root (recommended).

• [database]: use the name of the database that you want to backup

• [Path] and [backup_filename] : any path and filename

2. Type in password for the user above and then Enter (nothing will show when you are typing the password)

For users info:

1. In Terminal window, type the following command:

/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin/mysqldump -u [user] -p mysql > [Path]/[user_backup_filename].sql

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info:

• [user]: in most cases, use root (recommended).

• [Path] and [user_backup_filename] : any path and filename

2. Type in password for the user above and then Enter (nothing will show when you are typing the password)

Restore

Step 1: transfer both files (database and users, if you want to keep the same users and passwords) to the new system/server

Step 2: create the database from OE web login if you have not done so.

Step 3: use ssh and terminal, login as terminal root and run:

/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin/mysql -u root -p [database-name] < [/path/to/backup-database].sql    #for database restore
/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin/mysql -u root -p mysql < [/path/to/backup-user].sql    #for users restore, this might not work for mariabd 10.4+

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info:

• [database-name]: use the name of the database that you want to backup

• [/path/to/backup-database]: any path and filename

Step 4: go to OE on web browser and login with mysql root account.

If the mysql root user in the old database has password different than the current mysql root user, after step 3 above, the root user password will be changed to the old password.

If you don't know the old mysql root password, follow this tutorial to reset mysql root password.

Step 5: go to Settings and then click on Recreate users. That should reactivate all users and their passwords.

Again, if you have migrate from MariaDB < 10.4 to MariaDB 10.4+, it might not work and we have to change the command in step 3 above. The reason is because the mysql.user table is deprecated in MariaDB 10.4. You can read more about it here.

Window 10 + XAMPP

Save or Backup Database

For chemicals and lab journal databases:

1. Open a Window Powershell window, type the following command:

c:\Programs\XAMPP\mysql\bin\mysqldump -u [user] -p [database] > [Path]/[backup_filename].sql

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info.

• [user]: in most cases, use root (recommended).

• [database]: use the name of the database that you want to backup

• [Path] and [backup_filename] : any path and filename

In the command above, this part is for the default XAMPP set up. If some error happens, you should find the executable file inside XAMPP folder in your system. You can try to follow this link.

2. Type in password for the user above and then Enter (nothing will show when you are typing the password)

For users info:

1. In Terminal window, type the following command:

c:\Programs\XAMPP\mysql\bin\mysqldump -u [user] -p mysql > [Path]/[user_backup_filename].sql

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info:

• [user]: in most cases, use root (recommended).

• [Path] and [user_backup_filename] : any path and filename

2. Type in password for the user above and then Enter (nothing will show when you are typing the password)

Restore

Step 1: transfer both files (database and users, if you want to keep the same users and passwords) to the new system/server

Step 2: create the database from OE web login if you have not done so.

Step 3: use ssh and terminal, login as terminal root and run:

c:\Programs\XAMPP\mysql\bin\mysql -u root -p [database-name] < [/path/to/backup-database].sql    #for database restore
c:\Programs\XAMPP\mysql\bin\mysql -u root -p mysql < [/path/to/backup-user].sql    #for users restore, this might not work for mariabd 10.4+

Replace [italic_text] (including the square bracket) with specific info:

• [database-name]: use the name of the database that you want to backup

• [/path/to/backup-database]: any path and filename

Step 4: go to OE on web browser and login with mysql root account.

If the mysql root user in the old database has password different than the current mysql root user, after step 3 above, the root user password will be changed to the old password.

If you don't know the old mysql root password, follow this tutorial to reset mysql root password.

Step 5: go to Settings and then click on Recreate users. That should reactivate all users and their passwords.

Again, if you have migrate from MariaDB < 10.4 to MariaDB 10.4+, it might not work and we have to change the command in step 3 above. The reason is because the mysql.user table is deprecated in MariaDB 10.4. You can read more about it here.